


Of Gods and Monsters

by surrendertothesky



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-06
Updated: 2013-08-06
Packaged: 2017-12-22 14:32:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/914320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surrendertothesky/pseuds/surrendertothesky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I looked Mako Mori in the eye and we both understood what it was to survive, what it was to lose everything. Mako. A shark, a <i>taniwha</i>, a guardian, a monster. To kill monsters you need monsters of your own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Gods and Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> This basically me filling in a hole in the movie. New Zealand isn't mentioned once. I get it, I do. A lot of countries border the Pacific, a lot of countries are _in_ the Pacific - you can't mention them all. In the novelisation, however, NZ is mentioned very briefly in a list of Striker Eureka's kills: "Hound, Auckland, August 28, 2024"

I was there the day Wellington was destroyed.

The kaiju Hound destroyed four cities and a jaeger before it was taken down by Striker Eureka off Auckland.

We mourned and we raged.

But mostly we were confused.

When San Fran was levelled we thought we were safe. Nobody cares about New Zealand. We learnt that the hard way, a long time ago, in a far away land on a lonely beach.

Nobody cares about New Zealand.

Nobody but the kaiju.

*

I was in Sydney the next Anzac Day. I stood in the front row of dawn service, veterans of all ages beside me – the eldest there was a shrunken little man in a wheelchair, clutching at his granddaughter’s hand, eyes swimming.

Across the aisle from me stood the Rangers Herc and Chuck Hansen, spines straight, blue PPDC uniforms crisp.

In front of us, dawn rose, lighting up the poppies on the memorial. With the dawn rose two flags – blue fields, Union Jack in the corner but it was all about the stars. Six white ones on the left, four red ones on the right.

Our cross, our guiding light.

As I took to the podium, the elder Hansen gave me a tight smile and I tried not to choke on my words.

*

My brother and sister died in a jaeger, screaming in rage and frustration. They say their drift was so tight it kept going even after they’d disconnected from Haast’s system.

I believe it.

They were twins. Even before the jaeger they were so in sync it was terrifying.

My sister was the smart one, my brother the athlete. I, the eldest, the disappointment, watched from shore as they died.

We recovered their jaeger but not them. They are lost in Cook Strait, the Rip taking them away.

*

They say Maui pulled a monster from the deep. They say he killed it, hacked away at its flesh, built mountains and we lived on her.

They say Kupe’s daughter wept blood in her grief, her tears dying the rocks red, I stood on her beach and I too wept.

They say Maui stole fire from the gods, they say he was reborn from the earth, they say he killed monsters.

But he is a god, a trickster, and we are only human.

*

I helped restore Gipsy Danger.

I looked Mako Mori in the eye and we both understood what it was to survive, what it was to lose everything.

Mako. A shark, a _taniwha_ , a guardian, a monster.

To kill monsters you need monsters of your own.

*

Haast was butchered. Her arm and her plasma cannon salvaged and used on Danger. When they were new they were nearly twins, the differences only in the paintjob.

Danger; all American glory and romanticism. Haast; the largest eagle the world has ever known, dead but feared still.

*

Dr Geiszler tried to make off with Haast’s neural interface. God knows why.

I had to stop him. Haast could be repurposed, what bits of her survived, I knew that. I wanted that.

But not this, not the only thing that survived of my siblings.

I shoved a different one at him and he left babbling a mile a minute, leaving me alone in my grief.

*

They call Drs Geiszler and Gottlieb rock stars. They call Herc Hansen a hero.

And they call his son a god.


End file.
